In the spirit of giving, the Toronto Marlboro organization held a charitable winter drive in order to help those less fortunate than ourselves.  This was an opportunity to gather much needed items for families that have financial hardships and struggles that may prevent them from providing their children and themselves with the basic necessities of life. 

Coats, sweaters, pants and many other items were gathered for the cause and would be donated to the appropriate locales.  Such events also provide an even greater feeling of camaraderie as an organization by uniting families and teams for the purpose of giving back.  It also provides us with the opportunity to take a moment and reflect on how lucky we are to have all that we do and to never take it for granted. 

In addition to this charitable gathering, the Toronto Marlboro Minor Peewee team decided to take it one step further by taking part in "Operation Christmas Child."  This project is not only about giving but is creative in it's set up.  The premise behind the wonderful charity is to collect items such as school supplies, personal hygiene items as well as books and toys.  Once you gather up your items you fill a shoe box with them and they are then donated to children all over the world.  To date, Operation Christmas Child has distributed over 94 million of these boxes all over the world.  The boxes collected in Canada will be delivered to countries such as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti just to name a few. 

Again, it provides our children with the opportunity to take part in giving back and to take a moment, while filling a box with a basic items such as pencils or erasers to realize exactly how lucky they are.  They are able to think about the everyday things that they require that some little boy or girl elsewhere consider a luxury. 

The feeling that giving back provides is extremely joyful and hopefully contagious!